• Data collection for environmental control agencies with the help of mobile workstations

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Several environmental control agencies are planning to collect data from the field with the help of mobile workstations. This data collection process will eventually be automated with the help of permanent monitoring devices, especially in hazardous sites. The Ontario Ministry Of Natural Resources is using Apple Newton MessagePads 120s. The MessagePads are fitted with GPS cards and forms software. The forms application is used in tracking and fighting fires and recording fire damage. (For more discussion of this issue, refer also to the GPS/GIS application category).

A state-of-the-art project based on mobile computers installed in the tree harvesters of a Swedish company (Graininge Skog & Tra Forest Products Company) has demonstrated significant cost savings. The key component is an on-board Husky Hunter 16 palmtop computer installed in each harvester. Other components attached to the computers are Mobitex C702 80 MHz modems, printers and Mobitex wireless network cards. The application provides a communications link between the saw mills and the harvesters. The computer records cross-cut measurements and gathers all the data on the day’s timber production. After completion of a felling operation, the Mobitex unit sends the information directly from the harvesters to the head office, and on to the sawmills. Knowing in advance how much timber has been harvested and what deliveries are on their way has enabled Grainage to halve its inventories of stored timber. Cost reductions of 10 Swedish Kroner per cubic meter of raw materials have been achieved. If this application was to be implemented throughout Sweden’s forest products and pulp industry, one estimate of the total possible savings is one billion Swedish Kroner.